Types of Conformity and explanations for conformity

• What is informational social influence?

  When a individual conforms because the situation is unclear and they want to be right.
• What did Wittenbrink and Henley (1996) find out?


  Participants exposed to negative beliefs about African Americans (which they were lead to believe was the view of the majority) later reported more negative beliefs about a black person.
• How does the research by Wittenbrink and Henley (1996) provide support for ISI?


  This increases the validity of ISI as it shows how views from the 'majority' can lead to someone internalising the same beliefs and this also shows the effects of ISI on stereotypes.
• What does the research by Nolan (2008) tell us?


  People focus on what should motivate behaviour instead of what actually does suggesting that people under-detect the impact of NSI despite the fact that it had the strongest influence showing that NSI argument still has validity despite the fact that people assume otherwise
• What did Laughlin (1999) find out?


  Finding out facts such as "is Bristol is the most populated city in England" can be found by looking at statistics or consensus however questions like "is Bristol the most fun city in England" can only be based on opinions meaning the majority should exert greater influence in these situations
• What does the research by Laughlin (1999) tell us?


  That the ISI argument is correct as it explains that ISI occurs when people cannot check the facts and have to rely on opinions of others and this increases the validity of the argument